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Strain (ストレイン) #1
Strain, Vol. 1
Life is cheap in Kuala Lumpur, where a hitman named Mayo will kill your enemies for just five dollars. But when the local crime syndicate hires Mayo to murder a teenage prostitute, he balks and soon becomes a target himself, pursued by a sadistic killer cop.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
1 person is currently reading
90 people want to read
About the author
Buronson
455 books83 followersOkamura Yoshiyuki (岡村善行), also known as Buronson (武論尊) or Sho Fumimura (史村翔 Fumimura Shō), is a Japanese manga writer most known by his famous work Hokuto no Ken. known in English as Fist of the North Star.
He graduated from the Japanese Air Force Training School in 1967 and served as an Air Force radar mechanic. In 1969 he discharged from the Japanese Navy and was soon hired by Hiroshi Motomiya as a manga assistant. He started his manga writing career when he wrote the script of Pink Punch: Miyabi in 1972, drawn by Goro Sakai. In 1975 Buronson wrote his first big hit The Doberman Detective, drawn by Shinji Hiramatsu. The famous Hokuto no Ken made its debute as Buronson's greatest hit in 1983, drawn by Tetsuo Hara. In 1989 his story Ourou was released as a manga serialized in Animal Magazine, drawn by Kentarou Miura, and in 1990 a sequel entitled Ourou Den was released by the same manga artist. Buronson also collaborated with the manga artist Ryoichi Ikegami in many works as Strain (manga) , Human (manga) and the famous Sanctuary (manga). Among his other major works are The Phantom Gang, with art by Kaoru Shintani.
Buronson was mainly influenced by movies such as Bruce Lee's, and Mad Max.
The nickname Buronson is a tribute to the American actor Charles Bronson, whose way of growing the mustache was imitated by Yoshiyuki Okamura too.
He graduated from the Japanese Air Force Training School in 1967 and served as an Air Force radar mechanic. In 1969 he discharged from the Japanese Navy and was soon hired by Hiroshi Motomiya as a manga assistant. He started his manga writing career when he wrote the script of Pink Punch: Miyabi in 1972, drawn by Goro Sakai. In 1975 Buronson wrote his first big hit The Doberman Detective, drawn by Shinji Hiramatsu. The famous Hokuto no Ken made its debute as Buronson's greatest hit in 1983, drawn by Tetsuo Hara. In 1989 his story Ourou was released as a manga serialized in Animal Magazine, drawn by Kentarou Miura, and in 1990 a sequel entitled Ourou Den was released by the same manga artist. Buronson also collaborated with the manga artist Ryoichi Ikegami in many works as Strain (manga) , Human (manga) and the famous Sanctuary (manga). Among his other major works are The Phantom Gang, with art by Kaoru Shintani.
Buronson was mainly influenced by movies such as Bruce Lee's, and Mad Max.
The nickname Buronson is a tribute to the American actor Charles Bronson, whose way of growing the mustache was imitated by Yoshiyuki Okamura too.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 28, 2021
#ThrowbackThursday - Back in the '90s, I used to write comic book reviews for the website of a now-defunct comic book retailer called Rockem Sockem Comics. (Collect them all!)
From the July 1998 edition with a theme of "Manga Month!":
INTRODUCTION
It's manga month!
Viz Communications has been America's major importer/translator of Japanese comics for about a decade now. Eight months ago, Viz launched one of its boldest titles, PULP: MANGA FOR GROWNUPS. As the title suggests, PULP is an anthology which features adult-oriented stories: more complex and more sexual than your standard manga imports. (Alert: You're going to see a plethora of nudity and sexual content warnings in this month's column. Obvious white-outs and obscuring speed lines lightly censor most stories, but this is pretty racy stuff, folks.)
I like the idea behind PULP, though the execution has been a little sloppy. In my reviews below, I'll try not to punish the Japanese creators by remarking upon the barely adequate lettering and extremely stiff dialogue imposed upon their work by Viz's production staff and team of translators, but I want my audience to be aware that PULP does not contain the top-of-the-line Japanese to American adaptation seen in the likes of LONE WOLF AND CUB or even MAI, THE PSYCHIC GIRL which is reviewed below. I hope the quality of PULP's adaptations improve, but I am happy to have access to the material regardless.
This month, Viz is collecting several of the more popular serials from PULP into trade paperback format. If you have a little money left in your budget after buying all of DC Comics #1,000,000 issues, here a few collections you might want to consider.
STRAINING
STRAIN (Viz Communications)
What is the value of a human life? Is it the sum total of all one's worldly goods? Is it the amount listed on each individual's insurance policy? Is it merely the cost of burial or cremation? Or is it an incalculable quantity that must encompass love, joy, pain, and sorrow? For Mayo, the protagonist of STRAIN, the answer is simple: the value of a human life is five bucks.
Mayo is a feared and respected Japanese hitman operating in Malaysia. An enigma to those few people with whom he interacts, Mayo's shadowy past hides the secrets which have led him to his present state of apathy and his success at his chosen profession. He doesn't care who he kills, and he doesn't care if he himself lives. For a token amount of money -- five dollars -- he kills anyone, anywhere, anytime. Until . . . Shion.
Shion is a teenage prostitute. She walks the streets of Malaysia trying to earn the money necessary to keep herself and her sick mother alive. Like Mayo, Shion's background is mysterious. She doesn't know much about her father or her family history other than she is of Japanese descent. Unlike Mayo, Shion clings to life, hoping to travel to Japan and find her father and create a haven for herself and her mother.
Unfortunately, the roots Shion seeks are already reaching out for her in the form of a contract issued to Mayo by a crime syndicate on the life of Shion's mother. Shion's pleas -- and perhaps some deeper connection -- cause the first known crack in Mayo's cold demeanor. He offers Shion a chance to reverse the contract for ten bucks: five for the mother's life and five for the contractor's death. The deal of a lifetime becomes the bargain of all time when Mayo realizes that for Shion to live every member of the crime syndicate and its co-conspirators must die. To protect Shion, Mayo must rediscover a will to live and discover a new purpose for his skill to kill.
This story of relations and relationships -- the "strain" referred to in the title is the bloodline of a superior (but NOT superhuman) breed -- is generically told but brilliantly illustrated. Writer Buronson (also known as Sho Fumimura and best known for FIST OF THE NORTH STAR) and translator Yuji Oniki are 1) a little too heavy-handed, telegraphing plot twists far too early in the tale and 2) a little too economical, offering little background or motivation for the myriad supporting characters. I like the set-up of STRAIN, but so far find it inferior to the passingly similar movie called "The Professional." Ryoichi Ikegami, my all-time favorite manga artist, churns out page after wonderful page, and may be the only factor keeping STRAIN's story from bogging down entirely. My only complaint about Ikegami is that he, like artists John Byrne and Howard Chaykin, tends to recycle particular character faces, making the leads or supporting characters of his many different comics too similar as he jumps from title to title.
For the squeamish or easily offended, I must note that STRAIN contains several fairly graphic and especially brutal sex scenes. Amazingly, the scenes are not gratuitous or inserted with a pornographic frequency; they are true to the characters and serve the nature of the tale. Be forewarned, however, that they make STRAIN inappropriate for children.
Finally, to return to my opening paragraph, I may not be able to place an exact value on human life, but as for STRAIN . . .
Grade: C+
From the July 1998 edition with a theme of "Manga Month!":
INTRODUCTION
It's manga month!
Viz Communications has been America's major importer/translator of Japanese comics for about a decade now. Eight months ago, Viz launched one of its boldest titles, PULP: MANGA FOR GROWNUPS. As the title suggests, PULP is an anthology which features adult-oriented stories: more complex and more sexual than your standard manga imports. (Alert: You're going to see a plethora of nudity and sexual content warnings in this month's column. Obvious white-outs and obscuring speed lines lightly censor most stories, but this is pretty racy stuff, folks.)
I like the idea behind PULP, though the execution has been a little sloppy. In my reviews below, I'll try not to punish the Japanese creators by remarking upon the barely adequate lettering and extremely stiff dialogue imposed upon their work by Viz's production staff and team of translators, but I want my audience to be aware that PULP does not contain the top-of-the-line Japanese to American adaptation seen in the likes of LONE WOLF AND CUB or even MAI, THE PSYCHIC GIRL which is reviewed below. I hope the quality of PULP's adaptations improve, but I am happy to have access to the material regardless.
This month, Viz is collecting several of the more popular serials from PULP into trade paperback format. If you have a little money left in your budget after buying all of DC Comics #1,000,000 issues, here a few collections you might want to consider.
STRAINING
STRAIN (Viz Communications)
What is the value of a human life? Is it the sum total of all one's worldly goods? Is it the amount listed on each individual's insurance policy? Is it merely the cost of burial or cremation? Or is it an incalculable quantity that must encompass love, joy, pain, and sorrow? For Mayo, the protagonist of STRAIN, the answer is simple: the value of a human life is five bucks.
Mayo is a feared and respected Japanese hitman operating in Malaysia. An enigma to those few people with whom he interacts, Mayo's shadowy past hides the secrets which have led him to his present state of apathy and his success at his chosen profession. He doesn't care who he kills, and he doesn't care if he himself lives. For a token amount of money -- five dollars -- he kills anyone, anywhere, anytime. Until . . . Shion.
Shion is a teenage prostitute. She walks the streets of Malaysia trying to earn the money necessary to keep herself and her sick mother alive. Like Mayo, Shion's background is mysterious. She doesn't know much about her father or her family history other than she is of Japanese descent. Unlike Mayo, Shion clings to life, hoping to travel to Japan and find her father and create a haven for herself and her mother.
Unfortunately, the roots Shion seeks are already reaching out for her in the form of a contract issued to Mayo by a crime syndicate on the life of Shion's mother. Shion's pleas -- and perhaps some deeper connection -- cause the first known crack in Mayo's cold demeanor. He offers Shion a chance to reverse the contract for ten bucks: five for the mother's life and five for the contractor's death. The deal of a lifetime becomes the bargain of all time when Mayo realizes that for Shion to live every member of the crime syndicate and its co-conspirators must die. To protect Shion, Mayo must rediscover a will to live and discover a new purpose for his skill to kill.
This story of relations and relationships -- the "strain" referred to in the title is the bloodline of a superior (but NOT superhuman) breed -- is generically told but brilliantly illustrated. Writer Buronson (also known as Sho Fumimura and best known for FIST OF THE NORTH STAR) and translator Yuji Oniki are 1) a little too heavy-handed, telegraphing plot twists far too early in the tale and 2) a little too economical, offering little background or motivation for the myriad supporting characters. I like the set-up of STRAIN, but so far find it inferior to the passingly similar movie called "The Professional." Ryoichi Ikegami, my all-time favorite manga artist, churns out page after wonderful page, and may be the only factor keeping STRAIN's story from bogging down entirely. My only complaint about Ikegami is that he, like artists John Byrne and Howard Chaykin, tends to recycle particular character faces, making the leads or supporting characters of his many different comics too similar as he jumps from title to title.
For the squeamish or easily offended, I must note that STRAIN contains several fairly graphic and especially brutal sex scenes. Amazingly, the scenes are not gratuitous or inserted with a pornographic frequency; they are true to the characters and serve the nature of the tale. Be forewarned, however, that they make STRAIN inappropriate for children.
Finally, to return to my opening paragraph, I may not be able to place an exact value on human life, but as for STRAIN . . .
Grade: C+
April 10, 2019
A good start. Dark storyline, some secrets around. And of course brutality.
June 4, 2018
To be completely upfront I was able to read this free at an online site (make of that what you will, I just want to be honest). I'll admit what I pay for something can affect how much I enjoy it.
I had a middling interest in this when it originally came out from Viz. Budget was the main reason I didn't pick up the first volume, and upon completing it I'm not certain that'll continue with the series.
The initial catch of the series does work. Set in Malaysia during the height of Japan's economic resurgence, Mayo is a killer for hire. The young Japanese charges $5 per kill, because to him that's the worth of a human life. Until, a young girl and her ill mother have an affect on him. Instead of completing the contract he has on them, he has them buy out the contract on them, and place a hit on the man who hired Mayo.
Of course, Mayo has now needlessly complicated his life. His back story is being slowly revealed, any slower and we'd be in the decade, and he is an interesting enough character.
But the remainder of the set up isn't very original. If sexual content bothers you this is also not for you.
I had a middling interest in this when it originally came out from Viz. Budget was the main reason I didn't pick up the first volume, and upon completing it I'm not certain that'll continue with the series.
The initial catch of the series does work. Set in Malaysia during the height of Japan's economic resurgence, Mayo is a killer for hire. The young Japanese charges $5 per kill, because to him that's the worth of a human life. Until, a young girl and her ill mother have an affect on him. Instead of completing the contract he has on them, he has them buy out the contract on them, and place a hit on the man who hired Mayo.
Of course, Mayo has now needlessly complicated his life. His back story is being slowly revealed, any slower and we'd be in the decade, and he is an interesting enough character.
But the remainder of the set up isn't very original. If sexual content bothers you this is also not for you.
December 20, 2023
A dark and gritty start to a short series… the issue will be finding the other mangas to complete the story.
The drawing style drew me in immediately upon picking up the book.
The drawing style drew me in immediately upon picking up the book.
August 24, 2011
Very mature adult plot lines and drawing can be very graphic and violent. The story and drawing are both gritty, with big strokes. A cleaner-that take only $5 to wack the person of your choice. He does his jobs very well, until refuses his latest gig. He and his oddball group are on the run. All due to Asian oil rights. It is intriguing....
November 12, 2013
This is a very good story. The only problem is that you keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. It does in the last volume but that starts here in the first one.
January 19, 2024
3.8/5
Buronson and Ikegami's first volume of Strain is a solid start to the series, full of setups and one small payoff that wasn't all too surprising, really. Ikegami's photorealistic art is gorgeous and Buronson's writing is fine. They're taking their time with this one, but it doesn't drag, at least not at the start. The introduction of the sadistic Angel character has led to some gruesome and somewhat darkly humorous moments of over-the-top evil moments. Interested to see how his rivalry with our lead anti-hero, Mayo, develops.
Mayo himself is a bit of a blank slate, mostly with other characters telling us what he normally does in contrast to what he is now doing. Right now, he seems like he's trapped in some kind of emotionless limbo, but we are at the start of a five-volume series, so we'll see how he cracks (if he does) further down the line.
Not for sensitive readers.
Buronson and Ikegami's first volume of Strain is a solid start to the series, full of setups and one small payoff that wasn't all too surprising, really. Ikegami's photorealistic art is gorgeous and Buronson's writing is fine. They're taking their time with this one, but it doesn't drag, at least not at the start. The introduction of the sadistic Angel character has led to some gruesome and somewhat darkly humorous moments of over-the-top evil moments. Interested to see how his rivalry with our lead anti-hero, Mayo, develops.
Mayo himself is a bit of a blank slate, mostly with other characters telling us what he normally does in contrast to what he is now doing. Right now, he seems like he's trapped in some kind of emotionless limbo, but we are at the start of a five-volume series, so we'll see how he cracks (if he does) further down the line.
Not for sensitive readers.
August 6, 2023
This is an interesting one. You've got Buronson writing it, with the incredibly talented Ryoichi Ikegami illustrating it.
Pros: It's a fun read that's got amazing art. The plot is a bit odd, but the action and villains make it compelling enough.
5 dollar assassin for hire Mayo ends up getting himself and a teenage prostitute into a world of trouble that involves assassins, oil tycoons, and the mafia. The writing and dialog is a bit rough, but in a cheesy, campy 80s/90s drama sense.
Forewarning: There is a lot of SA, especially in the first couple of volumes that can leave a sour taste in your mouth if you're sensitive to it.
Do I recommend it? Yes and no. Yes, if you enjoyed Crying Freeman or Sanctuary. No, if you're sensitive or are expecting a deep plot with thoroughly developed characters. I'm three volumes in and I give it a 3.5/5 so far.
Pros: It's a fun read that's got amazing art. The plot is a bit odd, but the action and villains make it compelling enough.
5 dollar assassin for hire Mayo ends up getting himself and a teenage prostitute into a world of trouble that involves assassins, oil tycoons, and the mafia. The writing and dialog is a bit rough, but in a cheesy, campy 80s/90s drama sense.
Forewarning: There is a lot of SA, especially in the first couple of volumes that can leave a sour taste in your mouth if you're sensitive to it.
Do I recommend it? Yes and no. Yes, if you enjoyed Crying Freeman or Sanctuary. No, if you're sensitive or are expecting a deep plot with thoroughly developed characters. I'm three volumes in and I give it a 3.5/5 so far.
June 3, 2021
While the plot is fine and efficient enough to intrigue, it is the drawings that represent the real standout here.
Ikegami Ryoichi draws people like they are gifts from God. His drawings are so unlike the anime style; refined, simplistic and so realistic. They really are what hooks me into the story...
Ikegami Ryoichi draws people like they are gifts from God. His drawings are so unlike the anime style; refined, simplistic and so realistic. They really are what hooks me into the story...
October 5, 2025
Incredible artwork and opening of settings
July 18, 2014
”Strain” is the story of Mayo, a contract killer who frequently offers his services to organized crime. The setting is Kuala Lumpur at the turn of the Millennium.
Mayo does his job well and cold-heartedly, but an assignment of murdering a teenaged prostitute finally breaks his composure. It appears that the reasons behind his orders are political. Mayo saves the girl's life and in so doing gets tangled in a conspiracy that might involve some faces from his past.
The opening volume is very sleek, stylish and dramatic, even if the plot and characters are still left a bit thin. This might become something substantial soon, as the premise is loaded with potential.
Mayo does his job well and cold-heartedly, but an assignment of murdering a teenaged prostitute finally breaks his composure. It appears that the reasons behind his orders are political. Mayo saves the girl's life and in so doing gets tangled in a conspiracy that might involve some faces from his past.
The opening volume is very sleek, stylish and dramatic, even if the plot and characters are still left a bit thin. This might become something substantial soon, as the premise is loaded with potential.
Read
June 14, 2016FALSE
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews